State Library of Iowa Library Services and Technology Act Five-Year Plan, 2002

The Iowa Commission of Libraries, the State Library’s governing board, convened the Library Services Task Force in August 2000. This group consisted of 46 Iowans from across the state, including librarians from all types of libraries, library trustees, legislators, members of Iowa Regional Library system (now called Library Service Areas) and Area Education Agencies, and citizens. Their mission was to make recommendations to the Commission on positioning libraries to effectively and efficiently meet the future needs of Iowans. Needs and expectations of Iowa Library customers and funding authorities were identified and examined by the Task Force, and are reflected in its recommendations. The Commission received the Task Force recommendations in December 2000, carefully studied them, solicited input from the Iowa library community, and with a few changes, forwarded the recommendations to the Governor and the Iowa General Assembly. These recommendations are now known as Iowa Commission of Libraries priorities and serve as a blueprint for future development of the Iowa library system.

State Library of Iowa Library Services and Technology Act Five-Year Plan, 2002

The Iowa Commission of Libraries, the State Library’s governing board, convened the Library Services Task Force in August 2000. This group consisted of 46 Iowans from across the state, including librarians from all types of libraries, library trustees, legislators, members of Iowa Regional Library system (now called Library Service Areas) and Area Education Agencies, and citizens. Their mission was to make recommendations to the Commission on positioning libraries to effectively and efficiently meet the future needs of Iowans. Needs and expectations of Iowa Library customers and funding authorities were identified and examined by the Task Force, and are reflected in its recommendations. The Commission received the Task Force recommendations in December 2000, carefully studied them, solicited input from the Iowa library community, and with a few changes, forwarded the recommendations to the Governor and the Iowa General Assembly. These recommendations are now known as Iowa Commission of Libraries priorities and serve as a blueprint for future development of the Iowa library system.

Avaliação de necessidades de formação em professores do ensino secundário em Cabo Verde

II Resumo Cabo Verde é um país que tem acompanhado as grandes mudanças políticas, sociais, económicas e educativas, atribuindo um papel preponderante aos professores na educação/formação dos indivíduos. Neste sentido a formação inicial não pode constituir um acto “acabado” que não tem em linha de conta as mudanças que decorrem no seu seio. A formação contínua aparece com um processo de construção da mudança, apoiado no desenvolvimento profissional dos professores. A avaliação de necessidade de formação em professores do ensino secundário em Cabo Verde é o tema do trabalho de investigação, realizado nas escolas secundárias da ilha de Santo Antão, em Cabo Verde, no sentido de identificar questões problemáticas na formação inicial e contínua de professores e as suas implicações na qualidade educativa. Neste sentido, ao longo de 5 capítulos apresentamos os pontos desta investigação, estruturados de forma a se poder acompanhar a sua evolução. No 1º capítulo, apresenta-se a Problemática de Investigação, que constitui a parte inicial da dissertação, pela exposição do quadro conceptual do ensino secundário em Cabo Verde através da contextualização e identificação do problema, da formulação dos objectivos e questões de investigação. No 2º capítulo faz-se o percurso histórico/educativo de Cabo Verde, desde a época colonial, passando pela educação após a independência em 1975, à constituição da Lei de Bases do Sistema Educativo e a Reforma Educativa dos anos 90. No 3º capítulo, intitulado “A Formação Inicial e Continua de Professores em Cabo Verde”, é abordado o enquadramento teórico desta investigação, com referência à contextualização geral da formação e modelos de formação de professores, evoluindo para a realidade Cabo-verdiana, tendo em consideração as instituições de formação de professores e o contexto actual do ensino secundário em Cabo Verde. No 4º capítulo faz-se a apresentação da Metodologia de Investigação, adoptada num estudo extensivo, do qual abordamos a natureza da investigação e caracterizamos a amostra e respondentes. Como técnicas de recolha de dados, são utilizados: o inquérito por questionário (n=77), a professores do ensino secundário e o inquérito por entrevista (n=9), aos directores das escolas secundárias da ilha de Santo Antão e a formadores de professores em São Vicente. Como técnica de análise de dados, são utilizados diversos procedimentos estatísticos e a análise de conteúdo. O 5º capítulo corresponde a apresentação e discussão dos resultados da investigação desses três públicos analisados. Para finalizar, apresenta-se uma conclusão que corresponde a síntese dos resultados obtidos, propostas de sugestões de melhoria e limitações do estudo. Cabo Verde is a country willing to follow the great political, social, economic and educational changes. This important role have attributed to teachers to educate and train individuals. In this sense the initial training cannot be considered as a “finished” task without taking into consideration those changes. The in service training appears as a scientific and pedagogic autonomization towards the growing change. The Evaluation of Secondary School teacher training Needs in Cabo Verde constitutes an investigation work, carried out in Santo Antão's island Secondary schools, aiming to identify problems in initial and continuous teachers' training and their implications in the educational quality. In this sense, along five chapters we will present the points of this investigation, structured to facilitate the understanding of its evolution. In the first chapter we present the Problem of Investigation which is an introductory part of the dissertation, the conceptual theory of the Cabo Verde secondary education through the contextualization and identification of the problem, the formulation of the objectives and investigation issues. In the second chapter we present the Cabo Verde historical/educational background, from the colonial time, going through after independence in 1975, to the constitution of the Basic Educational Law of the System and the nineties Educational Reform. In the third chapter entitled “The Initial and in-service Teacher´s Training in Cabo Verde” brings the theoretical framework of this investigation, where we present a general contextualization of teachers' training and models, developed from the reality of Cabo Verde. In this regard we will consider the teachers' training institutions and the current secondary education context in Cabo Verde. In the fourth chapter we present the Research Methodology, adopted in an extensive study, of which we draw the nature of the investigation and we characterized the sample. We carried out questionnaire (n=77) to teachers, interviews (n=9) to headmasters from Santo Antão's island secondary schools and trainers from São Vicente. We used statistical analyses and content analyses as data analyse techniques. The fifth chapter deals with presentation the discussion of results of those three analyzed publics' investigation. Finally, we present a summary of the obtained results, suggestions for improvement and limitations of study.

Cultural singularities: indigenous elderly access to Public Health Service

OBJECTIVEDescribing how Kaingang seniors and their primary caregivers experience access to public health services.METHODA qualitative study guided by ethnography, conducted with 28 elderly and 19 caregivers. Data were collected between November 2010 and February 2013 through interviews and participative observation analyzed by ethnography.RESULTSThe study revealed the benefits and difficulties of the elderly access to health services, the facility to obtain health care resources such as appointments, medications and routine procedures, and the difficulties such as special assistance service problems and delays in the dispatching process between reference services.CONCLUSIONThe importance of knowing and understanding the cultural specificities of the group in order to offer greater opportunities for the elderly access to health services was reinforced.

The effect of university culture and stakeholders' perceptions on university-business linking activities

The present work discusses the effects of university culture and structure on university-business relations, focusing on knowledge transfer activities. It puts forward the thesis that when links between university and business are introduced into the university system as a turn-key proposition rather than as developmental process, the prevailing university culture and structure will exert resistance against change and will oppose the creation of appropriate structures to promote them, with deleterious effects for the university.

Assessment of needs, health-related quality of life, and satisfaction with care in breast cancer patients to better target supportive care.

BACKGROUND: This study assessed whether breast cancer (BC) patients express similar levels of needs for equivalent severity of symptoms, functioning difficulties, or degrees of satisfaction with care aspects. BC patients who did (or not) report needs in spite of similar difficulties were identified among their sociodemographic or clinical characteristics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three hundred and eighty-four (73% response rate) BC patients recruited in ambulatory or surgery hospital services completed the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ)-C30 quality of life [health-related quality of life (HRQOL)], the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 (in-patient) or OUT-PATSAT35 (out-patient) satisfaction with care, and the supportive care needs survey short form 34-item (SCNS-SF34) measures. RESULTS: HRQOL or satisfaction with care scale scores explained 41%, 45%, 40% and 22% of variance in, respectively, psychological, physical/daily living needs, information/health system, and care/support needs (P < 0.001). BC patients' education level, having children, hospital service attendance, and anxiety/depression levels significantly predicted differences in psychological needs relative to corresponding difficulties (adjusted R(2) = 0.11). Medical history and anxiety/depression levels significantly predicted differences in information/health system needs relative to degrees of satisfaction with doctors, nurses, or radiotherapy technicians and general satisfaction (adjusted R(2) = 0.12). Unmet needs were most prevalent in the psychological domains across hospital services. CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of needs, HRQOL, and satisfaction with care highlights the subgroups of BC patients requiring better supportive care targeting.

Concepções, Práxis e Tendências de Desenvolvimento Curricular no Ensino Superior Público em Cabo Verde: um Estudo de Caso Sobre a Universidade de Cabo Verde

A tese enquadra-se nas discussões sobre as concepções do currículo, como problemática central nos processos de educação e formação, e o papel da Universidade ao longo dos tempos, mormente nos contextos actuais da globalização, conferindo especial relevo às concepções, práxis e tendências que caracterizam a experiência de desenvolvimento curricular na Universidade de Cabo Verde (Uni-CV), desde a sua criação, em Novembro de 2006, no seguimento de um percurso de quase três décadas do ensino superior público cabo-verdiano Com o enquadramento teórico da problemática da investigação faz-se uma ampla cartografia da literatura relevante no campo científico dos estudos curriculares, numa abordagem que patenteia a diversidade de conceptualizações do currículo e do desenvolvimento curricular, os principais traços característicos das teorias curriculares que se têm sucedido e ou que rivalizam na busca de hegemonia no sector da educação, bem como as políticas educativas e curriculares que vêm sendo concebidas e realizadas à escala global, dispensando atenção particular às dimensões instituinte e instituída do processo curricular. Ainda que fortemente condicionado pelas concepções e políticas de globalização da educação, a tendência para a uniformização educativa e curricular não constitui uma inevitabilidade, demonstrando-se, pelo contrário, que o processo de desenvolvimento curricular deixa espaços de apropriação e inovação ao nível das instituições educativas, atendendo à diversidade de contextos, expectativas e perspectivas inerentes à dinâmica da realização do currículo. Ainda no plano teórico, ao analisar-se a evolução do conceito ou ideia de Universidade, desde a sua génese até aos tempos actuais, coloca-se em relevo a natureza específica da instituição no âmbito do ensino superior, patenteando o modo como, nos diferentes contextos, a mesma tem procurado afirmar a centralidade do conhecimento e do currículo no cumprimento da sua missão, a despeito de factores e condicionalismos diversos, de entre os quais releva o tipo de relacionamento predominante entre a Universidade, o Estado e o mercado, no âmbito do qual se deve entender a complexidade da crise institucional, na triplicidade das suas manifestações (crise de legitimidade, de hegemonia e de identidade) que atravessa a academia, com reflexos ao nível das tendências para o condicionamento da autonomia, missão e funções da academia, assim como da própria natureza do conhecimento universitário. Na procura de saídas para a crise, que é global e, como tal, se reflecte nas universidades do continente africano, em que se insere Cabo Verde, a Universidade é desafiada a afirmar a sua especificidade institucional, enquanto promotora da alta cultura e da capacidade de pensamento de longo prazo, conciliando, deste modo, as suas funções essenciais ou simbólicas com as que se prendem com a satisfação das necessidades imediatas ou de curto prazo da economia e do mercado. Com base nos pertinentes subsídios teóricos, os estudos empíricos desenvolvem-se segundo a abordagem metodológica de estudo de caso, em que a análise documental e as técnicas de investigação qualitativa e quantitativa permitiram consolidar as evidências sobre: (i) os antecedentes da criação da Uni-CV, através do mapeamento do percurso académico e curricular dos diversos estabelecimentos públicos de ensino superior que precederam a universidade pública, legando a esta o seu património científico, tecnológico e logístico, com as inerentes potencialidades e limitações; (ii) o processo de institucionalização da Uni-CV, com a referencialização das opções estruturantes da organização e gestão da Universidade assim como da política educativa e curricular da Universidade; (iii) a experiência multifacetada de desenvolvimento curricular na novel instituição durante os cinco primeiros anos de funcionamento (2006-2011), correlacionando opções e práxis e evidenciando tendências da sua evolução. Da análise interpretativa dos estudos empíricos realizados, mediante a triangulação dos dados de arquivo e de perspectiva, resulta que a Uni-CV, não obstante as fragilidades persistentes no processo de seu desenvolvimento institucional, tem cumprido a sua missão de forma satisfatória, facto que fica a dever-se quer à adequação das opções, normas e directivas conformadoras da dimensão instituinte do processo curricular, quer ao esforço de realização das prescrições curriculares, sendo, todavia, evidentes os desafios a serem vencidos tendo em vista a consecução da almejada excelência académica, que os Estatutos propugnam, e que passa, nomeadamente, pela melhoria do nível da qualificação do seu corpo docente, pela implementação ou funcionamento efectivo de alguns dos órgãos da academia e pela afirmação da investigação científica como função incontornável para o desempenho cabal das funções de ensino e extensão. De entre as conclusões, sustenta-se que, no processo de integração de Cabo Verde nas redes internacionais de investigação e excelência científica e tecnológica, como, de resto, propugnam os Estatutos da Uni-CV, deve atender-se à especificidade deste pequeno país do Atlântico Médio, tendo em conta as suas fragilidades estruturais, pelo que se impõe algum distanciamento crítico em relação à incorporação de certas opções de política educativa e curricular que emanam de instâncias internacionais, independentemente do seu carácter inovador ou mesmo da sua possível consistência científica e técnica, comprovada em outros contextos.

Service Quality Analysis in the Five Stars Resort Hotels of Cape Verde

The objective of this study was the identification of the attributes and dimensions of service quality affecting the service performance of the five stars resort hotels located in the Cape Verde Islands. The reason boosting the initiative to do this research was the paramount role of the resort hotels in the development of the travel and tourism sector in Cape Verde, and the impact that today this sector has had in the economy of that country. The research opens with a literature review on the service quality theory in the hotel industry, starting from the middle of the 1980s with the classic model of service quality and SERVQUAL instrument to the analysis of recent models of service quality measurement in the hotel industry, as it is an example the scale of items developed in 2003 in the Lodging Quality Index (LQI). Furthermore, the study elaborates an analysis on the importance of the travel and tourism activities in the Cape Verde Islands, and it evidences the enormous importance of those activities in the performance of the Cape Verdean hotel industry. In sequence the study analyzes in details the hotel industry of Cape Verde and it identifies the market size of the five stars resort hotels and their current operators in that market. Moreover, the research develops with an online questionnaire elaborated and sent through the platforms of travel websites and communities to the guests whom have experienced the service of the five stars resort hotels located in the Cape Verde Islands. The scope of the questionnaire was to assess the attributes and dimensions of service quality in the five stars resort hotels of Cape Verde. The results of the questionnaire were in sequence analyzed through descriptive and applied statistics, using Microsoft Excel and the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Content validity analysis, factor analysis, and reliability analysis of the factors were made to purify an initial scale of 47 items of service quality. An instrument with three dimensions covering twenty four attributes of service quality assessment in the five stars resort hotels of Cape Verde was finally created. The three dimensions found were: staff competence; food and entertainment; and physical facilities. This study on the service in the five stars resort hotels of Cape Verde ends with brief comments on the status of service quality according to the identified dimensions and their attributes. In the conclusion, the study summarizes the whole work and gives some directions for future research.

Work motivation and pro-social behavior in the delivery of public services : theoretical and empirical insights

This Ph.D. dissertation seeks to study the work motivation of employees in the delivery of public services. The questioning on work motivation in public services in not new but it becomes central for governments which are now facing unprecedented public debts. The objective of this research is twofold : First, we want to see if the work motivation of employees in public services is a continuum (intrinsic and extrinsic motivations cannot coexist) or a bi-dimensional construct (intrinsic and extrinsic motivations coexist simultaneously). The research in public administration literature has focused on the concept of public service motivation, and considered motivation to be uni-dimensional (Perry and Hondeghem 2008). However, no study has yet tackled both types of motivation, the intrinsic and extrinsic ones, in the same time. This dissertation proposes, in Part I, a theoretical assessment and an empirical test of a global work motivational structure, by using a self-constructed Swiss dataset with employees from three public services, the education sector, the security sector and the public administrative services sector. Our findings suggest that work motivation in public services in not uni-dimensional but bi-dimensional, the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations coexist simultaneously and can be positively correlated (Amabile et al. 1994). Our findings show that intrinsic motivation is as important as extrinsic motivation, thus, the assumption that employees in public services are less attracted by extrinsic rewards is not confirmed for this sample. Other important finding concerns the public service motivation concept, which, as theoretically predicted, represents the major motivational dimension of employees in the delivery of public services. Second, the theory of public service motivation makes the assumption that employees in public services engage in activities that go beyond their self-interest, but never uses this construct as a determinant for their pro-social behavior. In the same time, several studies (Gregg et al. 2011 and Georgellis et al. 2011) bring evidence about the pro-social behavior of employees in public services. However, they do not identify which type of motivation is at the origin of this behavior, they only make the assumption of an intrinsically motivated behavior. We analyze the pro-social behavior of employees in public services and use the public service motivation as determinant of their pro-social behavior. We add other determinants highlighted by the theory of pro-social behavior (Bénabou and Tirole 2006), by Le Grand (2003) and by fit theories (Besley and Ghatak 2005). We test these determinants on Part II and identify for each sector of activity the positive or the negative impact on pro-social behavior of Swiss employees. Contrary to expectations, we find, for this sample, that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors have a positive impact on pro-social behavior, no crowding-out effect is identified in this sample. We confirm the hypothesis of Le Grand (2003) about the positive impact of the opportunity cost on pro-social behavior. Our results suggest a mix of action-oriented altruism and out-put oriented altruism of employees in public services. These results are relevant when designing incentives schemes for employees in the delivery of public services.

Iowa Disaster Recovery Tabletop Exercise - After Action Report / Improvement Plan

On June 24, 2010, the Rebuild Iowa Office (RIO) held a discussion-based tabletop exercise for the purpose of creating a framework to support disaster recovery coordination within the State of Iowa. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the tabletop exercise, summarize and analyze exercise results, identify strengths which should be maintained and built upon, identify areas for further improvement, and support development of recommendations and corrective actions.

Financial Integration, Trade Openness and International Transmission

[cat] Com afecten l’obertura comercial i financera a la volatilitat macroeconòmica? La literatura existent, tant empírica com teòrica, no ha assolit encara un consens. Aquest article usa un model microfonamentat de dos països simètrics amb entrada endògena d’empreses per estudiar-ho. L’anàlisis es du a terme per tres règims econòmics diferents amb diferents nivells d’integració internacional: una economia tancada, una autarquia financera i una integració plena. Es consideren diversos nivells d’obertura comercial, en forma de biaix domèstic de la demanda i l’economia pot patir pertorbacions en la productivitat del treball i en innovació. El model conclou que la incertesa macroeconòmica, representada principalment per la volatilitat del consum, la producció i la relació real d’intercanvi internacional, depèn del grau d’obertura i del tipus de pertorbació.

Worksharing and access discounts in the postal sector with asymmetrics information

This paper analyses the optimal worksharing discount granted to mailers and entrants in a liberalized sector when there is asymmetric information about the Post Office's cost. When the regulator is unable to ascertain which part of total cost of sorting has to be attributed to each sorting facility, the optimal 'accesss discount' given to the entrants is set in a pro-competitive way, thus facilitating the entry of firms that are less afficient than the Post Office. Howerver, with the same asymmetry of information, the optimal 'worksharing discount' given to the mailers is set to favor the Post Office, even when it is less efficient than the mailers in providing the sorting.

Computer-generated reminders delivered on paper to healthcare professionals; effects on professional practice and health care outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Clinical practice does not always reflect best practice and evidence, partly because of unconscious acts of omission, information overload, or inaccessible information. Reminders may help clinicians overcome these problems by prompting the doctor to recall information that they already know or would be expected to know and by providing information or guidance in a more accessible and relevant format, at a particularly appropriate time. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of reminders automatically generated through a computerized system and delivered on paper to healthcare professionals on processes of care (related to healthcare professionals' practice) and outcomes of care (related to patients' health condition). SEARCH METHODS: For this update the EPOC Trials Search Co-ordinator searched the following databases between June 11-19, 2012: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Cochrane Library (Economics, Methods, and Health Technology Assessment sections), Issue 6, 2012; MEDLINE, OVID (1946- ), Daily Update, and In-process; EMBASE, Ovid (1947- ); CINAHL, EbscoHost (1980- ); EPOC Specialised Register, Reference Manager, and INSPEC, Engineering Village. The authors reviewed reference lists of related reviews and studies.  SELECTION CRITERIA: We included individual or cluster-randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs) that evaluated the impact of computer-generated reminders delivered on paper to healthcare professionals on processes and/or outcomes of care. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Review authors working in pairs independently screened studies for eligibility and abstracted data. We contacted authors to obtain important missing information for studies that were published within the last 10 years. For each study, we extracted the primary outcome when it was defined or calculated the median effect size across all reported outcomes. We then calculated the median absolute improvement and interquartile range (IQR) in process adherence across included studies using the primary outcome or median outcome as representative outcome. MAIN RESULTS: In the 32 included studies, computer-generated reminders delivered on paper to healthcare professionals achieved moderate improvement in professional practices, with a median improvement of processes of care of 7.0% (IQR: 3.9% to 16.4%). Implementing reminders alone improved care by 11.2% (IQR 6.5% to 19.6%) compared with usual care, while implementing reminders in addition to another intervention improved care by 4.0% only (IQR 3.0% to 6.0%) compared with the other intervention. The quality of evidence for these comparisons was rated as moderate according to the GRADE approach. Two reminder features were associated with larger effect sizes: providing space on the reminder for provider to enter a response (median 13.7% versus 4.3% for no response, P value = 0.01) and providing an explanation of the content or advice on the reminder (median 12.0% versus 4.2% for no explanation, P value = 0.02). Median improvement in processes of care also differed according to the behaviour the reminder targeted: for instance, reminders to vaccinate improved processes of care by 13.1% (IQR 12.2% to 20.7%) compared with other targeted behaviours. In the only study that had sufficient power to detect a clinically significant effect on outcomes of care, reminders were not associated with significant improvements. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is moderate quality evidence that computer-generated reminders delivered on paper to healthcare professionals achieve moderate improvement in process of care. Two characteristics emerged as significant predictors of improvement: providing space on the reminder for a response from the clinician and providing an explanation of the reminder's content or advice. The heterogeneity of the reminder interventions included in this review also suggests that reminders can improve care in various settings under various conditions.